Freight-checking device



(No Model.) v

W. B. THOMAS.

FREIGHT CHECKING DEVICE.

latente Oct. 27, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

vWILLIAM B. THOMAS, OF ATHENS, GEORGIA.

FREIGHT-CHECKING DEVICE.

@PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,345, dated October 27, 1885.

Serial No. 158,931. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. TIIoMAs, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Athens, in the county of Clarke and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Freight-Checking Devices, of which the following is a description.

In loading cotton-bales in cars mistakes in tallying frequently occur, so that a discrepancy in the accounts of the consigner and consignee result, with consequent loss to one or the other, and trouble and annoyance to both. I propose to avoid this by the use of an automatic check or tally; and to this end I have devised the device or apparatus forming the subject of this application.

The invention consists in the construction and coinbiuation of parts hereinafter described and claimed, a tilting lever being the principal feature, and means for connecting it with registering mechanism secondary features. The device is placed on the platform at the station or depot, directly in front of the door ofthe car to be loaded, and as the truck on which the cotton bale is wheeled into the car passes over it the tilting lever is depressed, and thereby causes the register to make the required record.

In accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front side view of a depot or station platform and my invention placed thereon in readiness for operation. Fig. 2 is a front View of the registering mechanism enlarged, a portion of the case being broken away to show the interior construction. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line z z of Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are crosssections on lines x x and yy, respectively, of Fig. l. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the invention.

The letter A indicates the tilting flange or lever; B, the grooved base-piece in which it is ionrnaled; O, the registering mechanism, and D a depot or station platform. The said lever is a long narrow plate or thin bar, and is rigidly attached to or formed solid with a rockshaft, E. The latter is journaled in a lengthwise recess or groove, c, formed in thenpper side of the base B, which is inclined each way therefrom to facilitate passage of truck-wheels over it. One end of shaft E is bent upward to form a lever-arm, I), which has an eye or loop for engaging with the hooked end d of a pull rod, F, that operates the registering mechanism proper. Contiguous to the latter the shaft E is provided with lugsor arms f, u

on which a spring, g, bears, as vshown in Figs. 1 and Ai, for the purpose of holding the flange A normally vertical.

It will be noted that recess c in base B has a form that adapts it to receive the flange A when thrown down laterally.

So far as described the operation of the invention is as follows: The device is placed on the platform D, parallel to the side of the car to be loaded, and directly in front of the door of the same. In order to enter the car, each truck loaded with a cotton-bale must pass over the base B, and in doing` so the wheels necessarily come in contact with and tilt the flange A laterally, so that it lies down in the recess c, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 5. This obviously will rotate the rock-shaft E to the right, (see arrow Fig. 3,) so that its leverarm b pulls down the hook-rod F, and thereby operates the registering mechanism. Thus a unit-record is made each time a truck passes over the iiange and base A B. The registering mechanism has two dials or indicators and corresponding indexes or pointers. The lower and smaller dial, g', indicates units to ten, inclusive, and the larger dial g2 indicates units and tens, preferably tens only. On the shaft 7L, carrying the pointer of dial g, are mounted a ratchet-wheel, t, and spur-wheel, j. The latter Ineshes with the larger toothed wheel k on the shaft Z, to which the pointer of the larger dial g is affixed. Such larger gear 7c has one hundred teeth, and the smallcr,j, has ten. Hence for one revolution of the small gear the larger is moved but one-tenth of a revolution. The ratchet t' has ten teeth, like its neighbor, the small gear j. The hook of pull-rod F engages a tooth of ratchet t when pulled downward, but rides over the next tooth above when it rises to its original position. The ratchet is prevented from backward rotation by a pawl, li', Figs. l and 2. To allow the pull-rod F the lateral Inovement required to enable it to thus pass over the ratchet-teeth, it is arranged in guidesiit m', the upper one having a wide slot and a spring for holding the pull-rod normally engaged IOO with the ratchet, as shown. A spiral spring, a, is attached to and encircles the pull-rod F between the guides m m', and rests on the lower one. Its function is to push the rod F up after each pull. It also supplements the action of the plate-spring f, Fig. 4, in holding the tilting ilange A normally vertical. As before stated, the lower end, d, of the pullrod F is hook-shaped, the point of the hook being horizontal, to allow the ey-e of the leverarm b to readily engage with and disengage from the hook. lThis it does alternately when a truck passes into and ont of a cirthat is to say, when the truck passes in, the lever A tilts to the right, Figs. 3, and 5, so that the lever-arm b pulls down the' pull-rod F and rotates the ratchet i one-tenth of a revolution, whereby the pointer of the smaller dial g points to Fig. l. W`hen the truck passes back over the flange A, the latter turns outward, and the lever-arm Z) consequently turns to the left, Fig. 3, and out of contact with the hook d of pull-rod F. This construction and combination of the pull-rod and lever-arm is therefore important, vet so simple as to have no liability to become inoperative. For every complete revolution of the ratchet i the large gear k will make onetenth of a revolution, and its index will then point to the figure l() on the larger dial g2. NVhen the car has been filled, the number of bales it contains may be instantly and correctly ascertained by reading the dials g g2 in conjunction. For convenience in moving the tallying device from place to place on the platform D, I provide a roller, 0,at one end and handles p at the other, as shown in Figs. l and 6. By taking hold of the handles and elevating that end of the device the roll er will bear on the platform, so that the device may be easily pushed along to the desired point.

It is obvious the device is adapted for use in registering various other kinds of freight besides cotton-bales.

I do not claim the combination of a registering mechanism and a lever so arranged as to be depressed by a truck passing over it, since I am aware this is not new.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. The combination, with a registering mechanism,of the long tilting lever or blade A, journaled in a horizontal position, but standing normally vertical, and adapted to tilt either way, the base piece provided with a groove to receive said lever, and also beveled on each side, and a pawl and ratchet connecting the said lever with the registering mechanism proper, substantially as shown and described.

2. rlhe combination. with a registering mechanism and' the grooved basepiece, of a tilting lever provided with lateral arms or lugs, the spring g, acting on the latter, for holding said lever normally elevated, and means for connecting said lever and registering mechanism, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with registering 1ncchanism and the pull-rod F, having its lower end, d, constructed in the hook form specified, of the tilting lever A, having the bent end b, which is adapted to engage with and disengage from the pull-rod, whereby the register is operated once for every two opposite movements of said lever, as shown and described.

VILLIAM B. THOMAS.

Vitnesses:

C. SnDGwrcK, E. M. CLARK. 

